Rio Vista man to face molestation trial

A Rio Vista man accused of sexually assaulting children at an in-home day care run by his wife was ordered Monday to stand trial on more than a dozen charges.

Solano County prosecutors on Monday completed a probable cause hearing for Donny D. Elliott, 50, that began in May. The allegations against Elliott surfaced last year from children who had attended the daycare operation, Lots of Tots.

The charges allege Elliott committed five counts of a lewd acts on a child, two counts of attempted lewd acts on a child, felony child abuse and two misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure.

According to testimony at Elliott's probable-cause hearing, detectives interviewed a half-dozen children in August, some of whom reported that Elliott touched them inappropriately on multiple occasions and further alleged that he would sometimes expose himself when no one else was around.

In one instance, the youngest victim conveyed to investigators that Elliott would ask the child to pull her pants down before being allowed to play the Nintendo Wii, saying, "Show me," Catherine Mehl, a detective with the Solano County Sheriff's Office, testified.

A second child told investigators that Elliott exposed himself inside the garage and would pull the 10-year-old girl's pants down, or look inside them when no one was around, Mehl testified.

Elliott's defense counsel, Stockton criminal defense attorney Randy Thomas, argued that many of the charges were not supported by evidence and asked Judge E. Bradley Nelson to adjust them, or reduce them where appropriate.

Nelson ordered Elliott to stand trial on all charges except for one of the indecent exposure counts.

Elliott was ordered back to court at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 15 for arraignment. He remains in Solano County Jail custody, with bail set at $3.75 million.